


The King and His Lover

by MySoulIsMelting



Category: Danny Phantom
Genre: :D, BAMF Danny, Cute, Dash's dad is abusive, Established Relationship, Fluffy, Ghost King Danny, I Wrote This Instead of Sleeping, M/M, Maybe - Freeform, PTSD Danny, Protective Danny, Some angst, also hc that vlad masters is not a full halfa, atleast this time its still on track and im not high on pain killers, beach, but it seems the more traumatized danny is the happier the people., cause it'll happen, cause that just makes perfect angst am i right, cause thats probably not the worst i have planned, cause the worse masters is the more i hate that mf and i fucking hate that hoe, dash knows danny is phantom, dw tho, enjoy shitbags, hah, i havent slept, i kept it kinda lowkey cause im too much of a coward to write smut, i might make master more of a shitbag than usual, if i smoked weed i would take a fat hit rn, ill ask yall before it happens just to be sure, im dragging this out, its going to get real angsty just wait, let me tell you the angst will come and it will keep coming., lots of fluff, piss rat, piss rats, poor baby, should i tag as character death for later chapters, tell me in the comments about what you think maybe ill give you a better idea of my plans, uh, using the immortal halfas trops, wes weston is a dick, which is fucked up if you think about it but, whip nay nay, who cant read the room, you might cry but its great character development!
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-07-21
Updated: 2020-03-16
Packaged: 2020-07-09 22:25:21
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 9
Words: 11,956
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19895335
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MySoulIsMelting/pseuds/MySoulIsMelting
Summary: misadventures of Dash and his boyfriend Danny





	1. Chapter 1

Dash really wished he could say no to his boyfriend, but he honestly couldn’t. Danny had been waiting since his sister first told him about the program he couldn’t wait for his senior year so he could participate. They were lucky since it only came every three years, so if it had been a year later they would’ve missed it… well, lucky wasn't exactly the word Dash would use to describe their situation. Dash frowned. He had only signed up because Danny asked him to. He really wished he had said no. he knew if he had Danny would be upset, but he would understand and leave it be. Though he was worried if he would say no that Danny wouldn’t sign up and miss out on what he’s been waiting for his entire high school career and he didn’t want that.  


Dash’s father was a police officer, that was the main reason he wasn’t looking forward to the Shattered Lives program. If he was being honest, Dash’s deadbeat father was an alcoholic who likes to beat on him whenever he was home. He knew his father was one of the policemen who were coordinating the assembly, and that he would make his day the worst he possibly could. He was worried he'd end up one of the distracted drivers and that he would spend his night in the county jail while Danny was alone and pretending to be dead with no way to contact him. But he still signed up to make his boyfriend happy, even if it meant staying in a jail cell overnight because of his asshole dad. Dash struggled not to cry as he spooned Danny. Danny rolled over to face him and wrapped his arms around his waist and sticking his head in the crook of his neck and murmuring a quiet ‘i love you’ before drifting off to sleep. Dash couldn’t keep his eyes from watering, he really wished he had just said he couldn’t attend or something. Dash vanquished the thoughts and finally succumbed to the pull of sleep himself.  


The next morning Dash woke up to an empty bed and the sound of the shower running. Dash slinked out of the bed and walked over to the bathroom before opening the door and slipping into the hot shower with his boyfriend. “Hey.” Danny said, unfazed by the sudden intrusion. “Mmm, hey.” Dash responded grabbing the shampoo off the shower shelf  
“You sleep well?” He asked already washing the suds out of his dark hair.  
“I slept fine, you?” Dash began to lather the shampoo into his blond hair.  
“I slept well. I can’t wait for Monday. Oh Clockwork, I never thought those words would leave my mouth, Jesus fuck.” Danny chortles and Dash giggles.   


“Well we still got the whole weekend to wait, so what do you wanna do?” He said, washing the shampoo out of his hair and pushing it out of his face. Danny shrugged as a response and turned off the shower, stepping out to grab himself and his boyfriend a towel. “Maybe we should go to the planetarium? Or maybe we can drive down to the beach and stay there for the weekend?” Dash suggested, a smirk pulled at the corners of Danny's lips. “We could stargaze on the beach.” Danny’s eyes sparkled at the thought. “The beach it is then. Kwan’s parents have a nice beach house, I can ask if we can stay there.`` Danny nods as he pulls his boxers on and grabs a towel to dry his hair. Dash steps out of the shower with his towel around his waist, Danny blushed and looked away. “It’s nothing you haven't seen before.” Dash teased, playfully rolling his eyes. He laughed and pushed his ebony hair out of his eyes, “whatever.” he rolled his eyes back at him. “Just put some clothes on.” he smiled as he tossed a pair of boxers his way.  


Danny threw on Dash’s discarded hoodie and flopped on his bed, watching as Dash pulled on a pair of his sweats and walked over toward him. “Hey sexy, come here often?” Danny said, trying his hardest to keep a straight face but failing and bursting into laughter. Dash laid on the bed next to him, hanging off slightly, and began to push Danny with his hips to the side to make more room for his robust frame. Dash reached over Danny and grabbed his phone so he could ask Kwan about the beach house. Danny scooched closer and draped himself over his boyfriend, peeking over his shoulder to see what he was doing on his phone, occasionally kissing his cheek and giggling quietly. “Alright loverboy, what are you laughing about?” Dash said, rolling over to face him and smiling. He continued to giggle “n-nothing” he was still quietly giggling with a silly grin on his face. “C’mon baby, just tell meeeee.” Dash pleaded, setting his phone down and wrapping his arms around his waist. “Okay, okay, we should get cardboard cutouts of ourselves and hide them around the beach house.” he was laughing loudly now. Dash smiled and kissed Danny back “clockwork, I’m dating an absolute genius.” he laughed with him.  


“Come help me pack.” Dash pestered, tossing some pants at Danny. He threw the pants back and rolled off the bed, thumping onto the hard floor below and groaning loudly. Dash walked over to help him up, but ended up just dragging himself across the floor instead. “C’mon ghost boy, if you wanna make it to the beach before midnight then we gotta pack and leave now, c’mon babyyyyyyyy” he tugged on his arm. Danny rolled his eyes and stood, dusting himself off “Jesus, fiiine.” he drawled, pulling the pants on. Dash hands him a bag and he slung it over his shoulder, Dash grabbing his own bag. He grabbed Dash’s hand and pulled him downstairs, snatching his keys off the counter and leaving a quick note about where he was going before finally walking out. They toss their bags in the back of his car, it's black with green-tinted windows and a license plate that says ‘Ph4nt0m’. Sam had gotten him the car for his birthday for no other reason than irony and she’s rich and can. Danny turned the key of the 1967 Chevy, it rumbling and finally starting. “So where do you think we can find custom cardboard cutouts?” Dash asked. He giggled, “ Probably Amazon, if not we can just make our own.” Danny smiled, briefly looking over at his boyfriend. He nodded. “We should pick up some dinner when we’re closer to the house.” he suggested.  


“Yeah, I’m down.” he agreed. Dash grabbed a CD from the glove box, it was a ‘Bob Ross: The Joy of Painting’ tutorial. “Why do you have this just hanging out in your car?” Dash asked incredulously. Danny just shrugged in response. Dash put it in the CD player and turned it down so it was barely just background noise.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> just for context, they had a day off so they get to the beach house early Saturday morning

It had been a solid five hours before they finally stopped for dinner. They were a good thirty minutes away from the beach and it was already dark out, so they stopped at a local diner called ‘Gran’s’ it was quaint but busy for the time of night. Danny pulled into the parking lot, careful to maneuver around some children running out to their parent's car. He pulled into an empty spot and shifted his car into park, elbowing his boyfriends sleeping figure. “Hey, we’re stopping here for food if that's okay babe.” Danny said to the still half asleep Dash. He groaned and snorted himself away. “Huh…? Oh, yeah that's fine.” He responded, readjusting himself in his seat. Dash popped his neck and unlocked his car door as Danny stepped out of the car. He pushed the car door open and stretched his arms, yawning before joining him on the sidewalk that lead to the diner entrance. “We’re like, 30 minutes out so if we eat fast we should get there before midnight.” Dash nods. They walked into the semi-crowded diner and sat at the nearest empty booth, looking through the menu.  


“Hi! My names Leah, I’ll be your server today, what drinks would you like?”  
“Uh, I’ll just have water.” Dash said  
“Me too.” Danny piped in.  
“Okay, I’ll be right back with your drinks to take your orders!” Leah walked off, her notepad in hand and a slight bounce in her step.  


Danny tapped his leg with his foot a few times, giggling like a little girl before Leah came back with their drinks. “Here you are!” she said, setting the two cups on the table before them. Danny thanked her and she took their orders. “We should make a bunch of cardboard cutouts of Mr.Lancer and sit them in all the student's desks as our senior prank.” Dash snorted water through his nose in response before cackling. Danny stifled a laugh and helped clean up the water that Dash had gotten all over the table. They spent a while laughing before Leah returned with their orders, setting the plates in front of each of them, the heavy ceramic plates ‘thunking’ quietly on the table. “Tell me if you need anything else!” she said jovially before walking off to help some people who had just come into the diner. Danny pulled a small packet of ectoplasm from his wallet and smeared it on his burger bun. They ate, occasionally making comments on some of the people who were eating there at such a late hour. When they had finished eating, Danny waved over the waitress and asked for their bill. “I’ll bring it over right now!” Leah responded.  


“How is she so energetic? It's like one in the morning?” Dash said incredulously, half asleep.  
“No idea” Danny commented, shaking his head in disbelief.  
“Here's your bill!” she handed it to them as Danny pulled some cash out of his wallet. Danny paid in cash and gave her a hefty tip, handing it back to her. “Thank you! Come again!” she said as they left, returning to the car.  
Danny stretched before starting the car and pulling out of the parking lot, returning to the near-empty city streets. Dash near immediately passed out again, on the contrary, Danny was rapidly tapping the steering wheel, the ectoplasm he had earlier giving him an energy boost that he desperately needed to finish their trip to the beach house. Danny listened to Bob ross’s soothing voice in the background as he drove the vaguely familiar roads to their destination.  


When they made it to the house it was much later than midnight, it being three in the morning, all of Danny’s pent up energy almost completely gone. “Baby-” Danny elbowed Dash to wake him up. “We’re finally here.” Dash barely stirred. Danny rolled his eyes as he got out of the now off car and pulled both bags out of the backseat. He opened the passenger side door and once again elbowed his boyfriend in hopes that he’d wake up, but again to no avail. He scoffed before leaning over him and unbuckling his seatbelt before sliding his arms under him to pick up his sleeping form and closing the side door with his foot. He carried him up the stairs and got as close to the door as he could so he could open it without setting him down. He carried him all the way to the master bedroom and pushed the slightly ajar door open with his back and setting his sleeping boyfriend on the nicely made bed. Danny set the bags down before walking outside briefly to lock his car and returning to join Dash on the plush bed, snuggling up to his robust frame and falling asleep next to him.  


Danny woke up the next morning to an empty bed and the smell of bacon. Danny walked out of the bedroom to find Dash in the kitchen making some breakfast. He walked up behind Dash and wrapped his arms around his waist and resting his head on his shoulder, “What are you making?” he asked, aloof.  
“Just some bacon and eggs. You want some?”  


Danny hummed as a response his eyelids drooping slightly. He released his boyfriend and sat at the bar, setting his head down on his arms. Danny could hear the fire on the stove being turned off and Dash grabbing two plates from the cupboard. Danny lifted his head as his boyfriend sat next to him at the bar and setting a plate of bacon and eggs in front of him. “Thanks,” he said nearly inaudibly as he began to eat his breakfast.  


When Danny had finished eating he stalked off to the bedroom and back to bed, him snoring quietly when Dash returned and crawled into bed next to him nuzzling his face into his boyfriend dark hair and holding him closely. “I love you” he whispered, yawning and falling asleep himself.


	3. Chapter 3

When he woke up it was around noon, Danny was still sleeping in his arms. He smiled softly as he unwrapped himself from the tangle of blankets and got out of bed. His eyes watered as he yawned. He padded quietly over to the bathroom and started the water, letting it warm up before plugging the huge claw-footed bathtub. He pulled out his phone and put on one of his playlists and stripped out of the clothes he’d been wearing for two days straight. He looked at himself in the large mirror, gazing sadly at the scars he had gathered from his father. He looked away solemnly and walked over to the tub, pouring some Epsom salt into the water before slipping into the bathtub himself. He relaxed and slid down so the water was up to his chin, letting the water soak into his skin. He lay there for a while before sitting up and draining the tub. He stood, careful not to slip, and walked over to the shower. He stepped in quickly as to not drip water all over the bathroom floor. He winced as he turned on the shower, the cold water hitting his torso. He moved out of the shower stream and waited for it to heat up. Once warm he stepped back into the water washing the remaining bathwater off himself. He grabbed the conditioner off the shelf and lathered it in his hair, letting the warm water run down his back.

When he emerged from the bathroom wearing a towel around his waist, Danny was still asleep looking slightly disgruntled. Dash grabbed his bag and set it on the end of the bed, rummaging through it for his clothes. He pulled on his boxers and tossed his towel aside. He pulled a form-fitting shirt over his head and pulling his letterman over the white tee. He pulled some dark-wash jeans on and grabbed his wallet and the car keys off the nightstand and shoved them into his pockets.

He was about to head out and buy some groceries when Danny reached out and grabbed his wrist. He was still asleep but he was in visible distress. He set his bag on the floor and sat next to his boyfriend, who was slowly gripping his hand tighter. Before Danny could break his hand Dash shook him awake. He jolted up pausing to look at Dash before pulling him into a tight hug and sobbing into his shoulder. “Baby? Babe, what's up, what's wrong?” Danny hiccuped, gripping him like his life depended on it. “It was a nightmare.” he whispered in between sobs. He held him back pulling him into his arms. “Do you wanna talk about it?” he asked quietly, rubbing his rattled boyfriends back in circles. He shook his head, “Not really, but Jazz says that I should start talking about these things.” he answered. Dash nodded, whispering ‘I love you’s as Danny rocked back and forth in his arms.

They sat like that for a while, Danny clutching his boyfriend so tightly his arms began to bruise. Dash kissed him on the forehead “Are you ready to talk about it?” he asked quietly. He nodded taking in a short breath before letting go of his arms, sitting back slightly so he could look into his eyes.

“Do you remember when I told you about Dan?” Dash nodded. “Well, I didn’t tell you everything… I couldn’t save everyone.” He began to cry and leaned back into his boyfriend. “I couldn’t save anyone. Clockwork had to stop time to save them.” Dash’s eyes widened. “I would’ve become Dan if it weren’t for them. Baby, I might not have been here. Please, babe, don’t leave me” He was full-on ugly sobbing into his shirt. Dash pulled him closer “I could never leave you, Danny, I love you so much, nothing can change that.” he kissed him again. Danny looked up at him with his snot-and-tear-stained face his eyes watering as he locked eyes with him. “You promise?” he asked, his boyfriend’s shirt pulled taught as he gripped it tighter. “I promise.” He answered, never breaking eye contact with him. “Now let’s get you cleaned up okay?” he finished, holding him by his shoulders. He nods and stands, brushing off his sleep shirt. Dash pulled off his letterman and stripping his white snot stained shirt and tossing it into a hamper. He held Danny’s shaking hand and walked him into the restroom, running a warm bath for him as he helped him undress. “Do you think after this we can stargaze on the beach?” Danny asked, tracing the scars littered on Dash’s arms and chests. He nods “Of course baby.” Danny smiled and kissed him.

“Thank you, for staying with me.” he thanked him, stepping into the lukewarm bathwater, Dash sitting outside the tub, Danny still holding his hand.  
“Anything for you.” Dash responded simply.  
They sat like that for a while occasionally talking about what constellations they want to look at later that night. “We should order food.” Danny suggested.  
“Yeah. what are you in the mood for?” he asked, agreeing.  
“Maybe we can get some olive garden? I’ve been craving their breadsticks.”  
“We can pull that off, I just need to get my phone, so you’re going to have to let me go, babe.”

“No wait I’ll come with you.” He let go of his hand and began to pull himself out of the tub, water sloshing onto the tile floor. He unplugged the bath and let it drain. He stood and stepped out of the tub, water splashing onto the floor. Dash handed him a towel, helping wrap it around his shivering frame.”Thanks.” he pulled the towel tighter around his shoulders. He patted himself dry before pulling on his boxers and a hoodie, following Dash into the bedroom where he was already ordering some food, nothing specific, just a metric fuck-ton of breadsticks and some pasta. Danny pulled a pair of jeans and tossed Dash a shirt and pulled his boyfriend's letterman over his hoodie and cuddled up to Dash’s now shirted torso. “They said the food will be here in like twenty minutes.” he said sliding an arm over his shoulder. “Mmmm, alright.” he answered, snatching His phone off the bedside table and scrolling through his socials.


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> its finally getting somewhere! woot woot! i had this idea in my head for a while so enjoy!!

Paulina was exhausted. She had been driving for a little more than six hours, having stopped so often for her girl-friends in the back. She had decided to have a girls night in at Kwan's beach house, well, technically his parent's beach house. She figured no one would be there so she’d call him at her next stop and ask, though if someone was there, the whole drive up would’ve been a waste. She pulled off at some gas station and went to fill up her tank, bringing her bedazzled pink phone with her and leaving her friends asleep in the g-wagon her parents bought her for her Quinceañera. She stood by the pump and left the car to fill up on its own. She opened her phone and dialed Kwan's number, her acrylic nails clicking against her phone screen. She held it up to her ear as it rang a few times. “Hey! Paulina, what's up?” Kwan’s voice answered. “I was wondering if me and some of my girl-friends could hang out at your beach house tonight?” she replied, tapping her fingers against her shiny phone case. There was a minutes pause, and she could hear someone talking to him on the other end.

“Dash is there with his boyfriend.” He finally said, breaking the silence. It wasn’t really a surprise considering that Dash had come out to just her and Kwan a few months ago, though he never told her who he was dating, she assumed Kwan knew. “But I’m guessing you already drove all the way out there huh?” he said with a sigh.  
“Yeah,” she admitted, now topping off her gas tank and returning the fuel dispenser to is designated spot and snatching up the receipt.

“Go ahead, I’ll call them and let them know you’re coming. Just, tell your friends that you invited them so you don’t accidentally out them as a couple.”  
“M’kay.” she grimaced, Star was a lot smarter than she looked, so was Valerie. they might figure it out, but there was no point in turning back now. She had already spent so much gas money for the trip.  
“I’ll call them, and tell Dash to call you. I just pray to buddha that I'm not interrupting anything.”  
“Thanks, Kwan.”  
“No problemo Paulina.”

She hung up the phone and hopped back into the car, making sure that she hadn’t woken anyone. She started the vehicle and carefully pulled out of the station, the rest of the drive was about thirty minutes, is she speeds it’ll be twenty. She smirks and presses harder on the gas.

Danny was stradling Dash suggestively when his boyfriend’s phone rang. Dash sighed and answered. “What?” He asked, slightly agitated.  
“Woah man, chill out.” Kwan retorted, his demeanor lightweight. “Paulina and a few of her so-called ‘girl-friends’ are heading your way, just thought I’d warn you, and before you yell at me for ‘ruining your weekend’ she had already driven most of the way up there and I didn’t want to ruin her weekend either. So suck it up man, you’re apparently invited to her ‘girls night in’ also, call her so you can coordinate this better. Peace out man!” Kwan rambled, hanging up before Dash could even reply.

“Well fuck me.” he groaned.  
“What the fuck do you think I was trying to do?” Danny answered half-jokingly. “On that note, who was it and what's got you all pissy?” he said, laying across his chest and propping his head up with his arms. Dash chuckled and put his own arms behind his head in a relaxed position. “Paulina made plans before checking in with Kwan, so now we’re invited to her ‘girls night in’ I'm not sure who else is gonna be there other than Paulina, and probably Star considering the two are attached at the hip, but I was really hoping we’d get to enjoy our alone time.” He playfully frowned. “At least we ordered enough food for a small army.” he shrugged before pulling his phone out and dialing Paulina’s number.

“Ey Dash!” she answered, her excitement seeping through the phone “Sorry to crash your date but I really din’t want all that money I spent on gas to be a waste you know?”  
“Yeah, I figured. Don’t worry about stopping for dinner or picking up food, I already ordered some,” he reassured.  
“Oh! Nice. It's just Me, Star, and Valerie. We’re bringing face masks and movies n’shit so it's not going to be a complete bust. Plus if anyone so inclined we can go swimming, cause the ocean is like right there!”

“Uh-huh, yeah. I mean I guess it is about time you figured out who I was dating anyways.” he yawned and ruffled Danny’s hair.  
“Damn, you read me like a book! I am looking forward to meeting him, and since you’re not out to the others I can probably just bullshit my way out of this.”  
Dash laughed “You shouldn’t worry so much, you know he's on the swim team with you right? You can just say that you guys became friends so you invited him too.” and to be honest, she really had become friendlier towards Danny, not because he was totally ripped or anything, but because she found out he was actually a really cool guy. He was broken out of his thoughts when Paulina began to talk.

“I brought some booze too if you’re down to get shitfaced. It's the good kind too, so don’t sweat it. Plus even if you don’t like it I bet Kwan’s mom has a stash of alcohol somewhere. You know how she is.” Dash grunted in response. “I should be there in like ten minutes or so, I’ll see you there!”  
“Drive safely yeah? The roads to the beach are hella dark.”

“Obviously! Anyway, I’m gonna go! We’ll be there soon!” she hung up the phone and place it in the cup holder, slowing down so she could find her turn to the beach road. She knew these roads like the back of her hand, but even then they were still difficult to drive in the dark. She would take Dash’s advice and be careful. She wouldn’t want to wreck her car now would she?


	5. Chapter 5

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> my friend kept bothering me to update so enjoy.

The food arrived a few minutes before Paulina did. Dash and Danny were huddled together on the loveseat with their respective orders, Danny’s being chicken alfredo and Dash’s being lasagne. They were watching ‘the princess bride’ when the doorknob jiggled. They jumped apart when the door creaked open to reveal Paulina, her arms full of her stuff, a tired Val, and Star. “Hey guys!” Paulina chirped in her thick latina accent. Valerie's smile twisted with confusion once she notice the two boys, “I thought this was going to be a girls night? Why is my ex and Dash here?” she asked barely suppressing a scoff. Star nodded and also asked what the two were doing there. Paulina choked on her works as she fumbled to find an excuse.

“There was a wild party the night before, and Fenton was wayyy too wasted to drive and I still don’t have a license. We hung back since he drove here when Paulina called Kwan asking if she could hang, even though we were still crashing here. Since she had already driven all this way out we decided we’d join in. If you don't mind.” Dash cut in with a well thought out excuse.

“Paula! I thought you called Kwan ahead this time!” Star scolded, sitting in a nearby armchair. Paulina looked guilty but also satisfied. Valerie crinkled her nose before taking a seat on a bar stool in the kitchen. She rolled her eyes at Danny when he patted the seat next to him and silently declined. Paulina on the other hand took that offer and plopped down between the two boyfriends, dropping her luggage on the floor and Dash’s foot; He winced and she took his moment of surprise to whisper him something, which the others assumed was a quiet sorry as not to disturb the movie. It wasn’t.

“I didn’t know you were into shy boys.” She winked teasingly and poked his ribs. He squirmed and adjusted in his seat. Paulina reached to grab a breadstick when her hand was swatted away by Star, who promptly grabbed the basket and plopped it into her lap so she could eat them by herself. Danny glared and snatched the basket from her lap, setting it on the far side of the coffee table away from the blonde. She playfully stuck her tongue out at him and went back to watching the movie. 

Midway through the movie, Paulina opened one of her bags and pulled out a nail file. She set the open bag on the coffee table. She began to file her long nails, blowing on them to rid her cuticles of dust, and stopping to inspect their shape. When she was satisfied with them she set the file down on the table and rummaged through her bag, after a few minutes she pulled out a bottle of hot pink nail polish. She shook the petite bottle and opened it. The pungent smell of chemicals and nailpolish caused Danny to scrunch up his face in distaste. 

His enhanced senses could really suck sometimes, and he began to get a headache. He stood up from the loveseat and walked into the next room over, his blanket dragging across the cold tile floor and into the bedroom he was staying in. his feet padded across the rooms plush carpet and he threw himself on the large mattress. He pulled his phone out of his pocket and turned down his brightness before checking his notifications. His face was the only thing illuminated in the dark room. He smiled as he noticed a text from Dash. “Whats up babe? Are you alright?” Danny smiled at his phone and responded with a simple “Yeah, just tired.” Dash didn’t push any further and let him be. Danny set his phone on the nightstand and pulled the blanket over his head like a cocoon. He smiled and huddled close to himself, quickly falling back into a dreamless sleep.

Dash on the other hand was now alone with Paulina and her friends. He knew if he didn’t find a way out of this ,it might not end all too well for his masculinity. He was about to excuse himself when Star moved from the chair and into Danny’s former seat, squishing him against Paulina and the arm of the loveseat. He was quite literally stuck between a rock and a hard place. He figured he could just move to Stars old seat when Valerie sat down, shattering his dreams of freedom. Not only was the loveseats arm digging into his ribs but so was Paulinas elbow. He let out a quiet wheeze as he tried his best to inhale without alerting the others. He, once again, was going to escape. But it was far too late, his fate had been sealed long ago. Paulina pulled out a few facemasks and more nailpolish. Dash almost cried. 

She adjusted herself so she was sitting on her legs, he elbow no longer in his side but she was now pulling his short blond hair back with a hairband. Before Dash could run she grabbed one of the peel-off face masks and bagan smearing it onto his face. It was over, they had won. Star let out a giggle and moved to the floor, grabbing the nail file and one of Dash’s hands. He accepted his cruel fate as she filed down his chipped and broken nails into uniform shapes with gusto. When she was content with their shape she looked through the array of colors before picking up a bottle with the label “Slutty Red” his eyes widened with sudden fear as she shook the bottle and opened it, gripping his hand tighter as he tried to pull away. Valerie watched, an amused smile crossing her face at Dash’s struggle. Though his struggle valiant, he lost, and Star began to paint his now symmetrical nails. Paulina finished applying the face mask and looked with approval at Star’s own work. Dash sat there, defeated.

Soon after, Danny awoke to an uproarious laughter. The smell of chemicals and nailpolish were still there but much fainter now that they had finished whatever it was they were doing. He walked out of the room, his hair mussed and his blanket still wrapped around him. “Oh my- oh my god!” Valerie said between her laughter. “You- You Look SO beauTiful!” She wiped a tear from her eye as Danny finally made it to the living room. There sat Dash, he had several different bows in his hair, extravagant drag makeup, and his nails painted. Danny snorted trying to suppress his laughter, but inevitably failed and burst out laughing til he started to cry. He doubled over and continued to laugh with the others. Dash frowned and tried to wipe off the makeup, it only smeared and looked considerably worse. Another wave of laughter erupted for the group and Dash looked flustered. He groaned and got up from the seat, slinking off to the bathroom to wipe off the conglomeration of beauty products smudged across his face. The laughter in the next room died down and there was a knock on the door.

“Ugh, what?” he asked, his crummy attitude leaking into his voice as he got makeup in his eye.

“No need for the attitude!” the latina chirped. “I brought some makeup wipes, but if you're gonna be bitchy I might just not give them to you!” 

Dash furrowed his brow before responding. “Please help me get this off my poor face. I think I might be allergic to something you put on me.” He whined as he itches his nose. The door opened and Paulina stepped in with a bag of makeup wipes, she giggled but helped him wipe the mess off his face. Danny peeked in through the open door at them before walking into the small bathroom too. “Sorry for laughing.” he said as he draped his arms over his shoulder and leaned his head against his back. “It’s fine, It was pretty funny anyways.” he gave him a small smile before glancing in the mirror to see the damage. His skin was red and puffy in some spots where the makeup was caked the thickest. He grabbed a clean hand towel and wet it, wiping his face for a last time. Paulina stood nearby and smiled at the scene. Danny gave Dash a quick peck on the cheek before they returned to the group. 


	6. Chapter 6

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> self projecting and get ready angst will be coming soon. I promise you'll cry.

The weekend had ended much quicker than Dash had wished it would. Paulina and her friends had decided to stay a little longer and skip the shattered lives event. He and Danny left early Monday morning, they would miss first-period calculus, but in all honesty, neither of them really cared since that teacher was a huge bitch anyways. It was like one or two in the morning when they left. Halfway through the long drive, they stopped at a gas station. Danny bought a few coffees and Dash refueled the gas tank. Dash drove the rest of the way whilst Danny slept in the passenger seat.

It was about eight-thirty when they finally made it to the school and luckily for them none of the ‘activities’ had started yet. Dash walked Danny toward his astronomy class, giving him a chaste kiss before heading to his own class. In astronomy, the teacher, that Danny had never bothered learning the name of, was droning on about something he had learned on his own time a while back. He chugged the bottle of coffee he had bought a few hours ago and put his head down, wishing he could just fall asleep, but it seemed that nap on the way there had reinvigorated him. Essentially, Danny just tuned everything else out and began to text some of his friends. Sam had only scolded him for not paying attention and Tucker literally told him to stop texting him cause “he was watching 9-1-1 and his notifications were getting in the way of Eddie’s and Buck’s sexual tension.” Danny sighed and glanced up at the board just in time for the teacher to call on him. “Daniel-”

“I told you its just Danny, but go off I guess.”

The teacher rolled his eyes. “ _ Danny, _ tell me your opinion on pluto.”

Danny scoffed “Just because it's small doesn’t give anyone the right to call it a ‘dwarf planet’ its just as much of a planet as the rest of them and I stand by that.”

Danny tuned out the rest of his teacher's boring lecture. Meanwhile, Dash had taken up an art class. An extremely hard art class at that but he needed to fill his fine arts credits and he’d be damned if he couldn’t draw by the end of this year. His art teacher hated him for no other reason than that he was labeled a ‘dumb jock’ but if he was being honest, there were a lot stupider kids out there. Right when he was about to continue his inner monologue the bell rang with an announcement. “Can all the juniors and seniors who signed up for the shattered lives program please make their way to the cafeteria. Teachers if you’re unsure about who is on the list you can check your emails.”

Naturally, Dash stood and grabbed his things, getting ready to meet with Danny in the cafeteria when his teacher, Ms.Blum stopped him. “Mister Baxter you better sit down and wait for me to check my list. I’m not letting you make a fool out of me for letting you skip my class!”

“Yes ma’am. But I’d appreciate if you checked your email a tad bit faster considering they probably won't wait for me before they start.”

“Don’t you dare rush me, young man! I must finish handing out everyone's papers first.” the old woman shuffled dramatically slowly across the room, Dash had had enough of her bullshit. “Ma’am, I know for a fact that I, myself, had filled out all the paperwork and turned it in. I’m not going to wait for you to do something you could’ve waited to do. I’m leaving now. You can check your email later.” he rolled his eyes as she began to shout at him and some of the freshmen in there giggled or cheered. He walked down the near-empty halls and toward the cafeteria. He slipped in and found his way to Danny and a few of their friends.

“It's about time you got here. They were just about to start.” Kwan elbowed him.

“Yeah. that bitch Ms.Blum wouldn’t let me leave.”

“Oo, I had her last year. I think she's a widow.” Tucker budded in.

“Probably Killed her husband for all we know.” Dash snarked.

“I wouldn’t be surprised,” Sam said as she strolled up to the group.

“Yeah, I miss our old art teacher, Mr.Humber. He was cool. Pretty sure he smoked weed during the break period though, cause I have no idea where that man's enthusiasm came from.” Danny commented.

“Whatever happened to him?” Kwan asked.

“I’m pretty sure he moved to a better-funded school that was closer to where he lived.”

The others nodded in agreement. Before they could continue their conversation a loud screech came from the speakers before Lancer spoke up on the microphone. “Testing, testing. 1 2 3. Good morning Casper High! How are we doing today.” People cheered and whistled in response, a couple of people, including Danny, whooped and pumped their fists. If Dash could be completely honest, he much rather had stayed with Paulina and her friends at Kwan's beach house. But God knew he could never say no to his boyfriend. “As you all know, today we will be learning about safe driving. Well, more like the aftermath of what happens if you don’t drive safely.” a few of the students laughed, if not uncomfortably. 

“During class, some of you will be pulled out and pronounced dead. Your obituary will be read and you will change into a black shirt they have provided along with white face makeup. You will be taken to another room to be processed and then your group will be taken to the hotel. I ask you not to contact anyone through cellular devices. I’m pretty sure all of you know the drill. If you're not called during your class you might be someone who will re-enact the crash scene. There is the possibility that you will the one selected to be the drunk and/or distracted driver, and rather than meeting with the rest of the dead, you will spend your night in county jail. I can assure you it’s going to suck, so if we can please get an f in the chat for them in advance.”

F’s rippled through the crowd.

“Anyway. Go ahead and head to your next class. Be prepared. And break!”


	7. Chapter 7

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> lancer is a bad bitch. sorry if this took a while to get out im sick and running a high fever :/

The group of young adults scattered, Danny and the others hanging behind like a large majority of the seniors.

“Watch my dick of a dad have made it so I’m the one who goes to county jail like what the fuck, what the fuck is up kyle step the fuck up? God, I fucking hate my dad what the fuck.” Kwan slapped Dash on the shoulder in mock comfort. “Best hope not! I’ve got plans, party plans and alcohol to be specific!” he winked and let out a hearty chuckle. The comment happened to be mildly inconvenient considering Lancer was just walking up to them to send them back to class and heard the whole thing. He raised his eyebrows. “I’m just gonna pretend I heard nothing about this party with alcohol assuming I’m on the guestlist?” Sam let out a witch-like cackle and doubled over, the others, minus tucker on the account that he was engrossed in the 9-1-1 season finale, quickly agreed. “Yeah what party definitely no party going on not at all, wink wink cough cough.” Sam was basically rolling on the floor with laughter as Lancer gave Kwan a pat on the back with a quick “good man” dropping the topic.

“Wait Mr.Lancer you’re one of the coordinates of this whole hellscape right?” Lancer nods.

“Okay so hypothetically, you can get all of us in the same group right? And hypothetically we can all hitch a ride with Danny rather riding on the bus.” his eyebrows were arched with forgotten hope.

“Hypothetically yes, though you’d have to be the last group so I could chaperone since not all of you are eighteen yet… but hypothetically I can totally change the groups last second.” the group of teenagers cheered and high-fived, Kwan and Dash chest-bumped. “Now I recommend you all head back to class before I change my mind.” the group of cheering friends left the cafeteria.

There were still a few seniors left in the cafeteria, one of them happening to be the notorious ‘Wes Weston’ well known around the school for his outrageous conspiracy theory pertaining to Danny Fenton being Danny Phantom. Nobody believed him of course. He currently was scowling at the group of friends leaving the cafeteria. “Lancer always plays favorites. Fucking asshole.” he rolled his eyes but failed to notice the other teens leaving, and him becoming the last student in the cafeteria. Lancer approached him. “Get the fuck to class or your ass is grass, Weston.” Wes struggled to hide his shocked face at the use of profanity. “Aren’t you like, supposed to be a role model or something?” 

“Oh, my bad, I didn’t realize I was talking to a freshman, how's this on for size? Great Gatsby, Weston! If you don’t go straight to class it’ll be detention for a week!” Wes headed back to class, but not before he could whisper a ‘nani the fuck’ under his breath.

Now returning to our heroine and his posse of friends, who had duly elected to skip the rest of second period and hang out in the men's athletic locker room since there weren’t any classes during that period. Kwan was smoking a hand-rolled joint next to the only window in the locker room, which conveniently had a large crack in it. Tucker and Sam were huddled together on one of the benches watching 9-1-1 with the volume all the way up to drown out Dash and Danny ‘totally not making out’ in one of the shower stalls. The bell rang and basically they all collectively let out some form of shocked sound, which concluded with Dash dropping Danny on his ass, Kwan trying to snub out his joint and only managing to burn his thumb and singe his jeans, and Tucker fumbling with his phone Karen, landing on the floor trying to grab it, while sam just sat by and watched as the chaos unfolded. She stood and brushed off her skirt before helping Tucker up off the floor and waiting for the others so they could leave. Kwan managed to snub out his joint, and Dash helped Danny up off the shower stall floor. “When I said I wanted you to bust my ass I did not mean I wanted you to drop me and literally bust my ass. Like oof ouch my bones.” Kwan laughed, and Dash covered his flushed face in embarrassment. “I didn’t mean to drop you! The bell scared me is all!” Kwan continued to cackle. “let's blow this taco stand before the basketball nuts show up!” Sam finger-gunned toward the door and began to saunter out, spinning to face them and finger-gun them before exiting backward, the rest of the group in tow.

Wes was making his way to the athletic lockers, contemplating his life and why he signed up for this stupid fucking ‘shattered lives’ bullshit in the first place when he saw Sam leaving the locker room with her friends, who happened to be a whole bunch of dudes. If Wesly didn’t know any better he’d think they had just finished some sort of shitty five-some. But Wes wasn’t that stupid. He knew the only slut in there was probably Danny because Wes wasn’t fucking blind and could totally see the blooming hickey barely hidden by his NASA hoodie. Wes rolled his eyes and continued on with his day.

“Lets! Get! This! Motherfucking! Bread!!!!” Kwan shouted through the halls, clapping between the words. Kwan was higher than a kite but nobody was gonna make the mistake of snitching, considering his mom is the principal and snitches get stitches. All of them but Sam had forensic science next, Sam had taken botany, and they were walking to class together. Tucker was still glued to his phone, but now he was wearing the airpods sam bought him for his birthday. Dash started chanting ‘let's get this bread’ with Kwan, but each time they chanted they changed the type of bread. Danny whipped out his phone and started recording their shenanigans to send to Sam later, or maybe keep to himself for blackmail. By the time they had made it to their class the late bell and already rung and the class was started. Kwan had his arm slung around Dash’s shoulder and Dash had his arm around Kwan’s and at this point they were just chanting ‘bread’ over and over, paying no mind to the odd looks they got from literally everyone but other seniors, and the occasional clout chasing freshie.

The teacher rolled his eyes and motioned for them to head to their seats. Kwan and Dash had stopped their chanting. The teacher resumed his lecture and was promptly interrupted by a sneeze. The Teacher turned back around to face the class. He rolled his eyes again and turned to resume his lecturing when Kwan sneezed again. Loudly. “Whoever is sneezing can go ahead and leave my class if they are going to continue to interrupt-” he was cut off by another loud sneeze coming from Kwan. “Sorry, mister. Seems to be allergies.” it wasn’t allergies but the professor didn’t need to know that. “Shouldn’t you’re mother have taught you some respect boy?” he berated, annoyed. By now you should know Kwan don’t take shit from anybody, especially if they talkin’ shit about his mom. “I dunno sir. Shouldn’t you be dead?” he retorted. The class burst into laughter some people shouting ‘oooooooh’ and ‘get burnt asshole!’

The teacher was sufficiently pissed off, not only at just Kwan anymore but the whole class. “If you all don’t quiet down I’ll call down an AP and give every single student here a referral whether you participated or not!”

Most of the students quieted down with the occasional student shushing the other. That was till the semi-silence was broken by tucker yelling out, “do it pussy! You won’t!” not even taking a moment to look up from his phone. The class broke into chaos again someone yelling ‘shut the fuck up you old dick bag!’ which Kwan found quite funny.

“That's it!” the professor said throwing his hand into the air and walking over to the phone to call down an assistant principal. The entire class became silent as he made the call and silent for the rest of the class, including when the teacher accused this clearly innocent class into rebelling when clearly nothing was going on but productive work. The AP scolded the teacher and made an ‘im watching you’ motion to the class before leaving. The teacher slumped in defeat in his chair. Some of the kids jumped up and high-fived the others while others just played on their phones. Either way, it seemed like a win-win. The bell finally rang, signaling for their fourth-period class.


	8. Chapter 8

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> I was working on this super late and I spelled cant as kant. yeah with a fucking k. it's like almost on the whole other side of the keyboard but somehow my sleep-deprived brain managed to type kant. I've been working on this chapter for 3 hours and it's currently 4:30 for me. the only thing keeping my battered soul from falling asleep is mha cause my sister kept bugging me to finish it cause I can't exactly binge shows without going braindead. anyway, enjoy, please tell me if you see any misspellings or something like that. I should probably go to sleep I've gone to go shopping tomorrow-today- whatever. this is getting long, sorry! I've elected to keep the last chapter since I only got a response from one of you and it seemed on the positive side so yeah.

During the middle of fourth period, all juniors and seniors were called down to the lunchroom again, this time they ushered outside to the parking lot, and were met with the remains of a gruesome car crash. Before the speaker could begin their speech, Lancer stood and picked some students out of the crowd, handing them over to the first responders in charge. Near the back of the crowd stood Dash and his friends, not really paying attention to the whole thing, since Kwan got in a car crash not too long ago so everyone already knew the gist of what happened when this kind of thing happens. They were playing an array of games, ranging between snaps and truth or dare. It was Kwan's turn for truth or dare. “Tucker, truth or dare?” he asked, a devilish grin spreading across his face. Obviously Tucker chose dare, but to his dismay, Kwan's idea of a dare was pretty crazy. “You’re kidding me.” Tucker drawled, and Kwan shook his head grinning. “Aw man, fuck you, like fo-real what the fuck bro. There's no way in hell you really just dared me to streak through the school on our first day back. Like that asking to get me suspended like what.” Kwan began to cackle along with Sam and Dash, Danny covered his laugh with a not-so-subtle cough. One of the paramedics gave them a strange look, they stopped.

Five hours away, Paulina and her friends were still at Kwan’s beach house. They were trying to clean and pack up their stuff as fast as they possibly could since Kwan informed her that his parents were going to spend the next weekend there, and leaving it trashed is asking to never be invited over again. She rolled her eyes as she stashed the cheap bottles of wine back under the floorboards, making sure nothing looked too sus. Valerie was in the master bedroom trying to clean the prominent red wine stain in the pristine white carpet. Like who chooses white carpet for a beach house, like sand is everywhere. Mia and Rebbeca were putting all of their bags into Paulina's car. Star, on the other hand, was furiously texting her boyfriend Kwan, explaining how crazy last night was. Paulina herself though couldn't remember much from last night except that they had the bright idea to go skinny dipping in the ocean. The saltwater was something their intoxicated minds had forgotten was a thing so the next morning when they found that it was a grave mistake, they spent the next few hours showering and moisturizing. Star decided to leave that part of their adventure out of her four-page long text message. When Valerie finally got rid of the stain they all piled back into the vibrantly colored car, but not before locking the door and replacing the spare key where it was originally was.

Back at school, it was finally the last class of the day. Dash waited eagerly, his foot tapping against the linoleum flooring. He couldn’t wait to get out of here and finally see Danny. He hadn't seen him since the fourth period, and in all honesty, he fucking hated school. Like who in their right mind actually liked school, like willingly? A knock at the door brought him out of his thoughts. Lancer was there, when he walked in he gave Dash a knowing nod, and pulled him out of the classroom. Dash could hear him explaining to the class that he had died and they began to read his obituary. Typically parents wrote them, but since Dash’s father didn’t give a single damn about him he got Danny to write it for him in exchange Danny offered to let him write his in exchange. It was an interesting offer, one that Dash greedily snatched up. He wrote it in between comedic and sheerly tear-jerking. It was brilliant and was the peak of Dash’s writing career, he hoped Lancer was proud of his masterpiece. Dash found his was pretty similar to Dannys, and he was very pleased. When Lancer emerged from the classroom, Dash’s face had been painted a sickly white and he had pulled over a black tee-shirt over his actual shirt with the label ‘dead’ on the front and back in big block letters. “You were the last of your group, so we might as well meet up with the others and get out of here,” Lancer said, looking over his clip-board. “Though I'm assuming you’ll wanna stop by your locker?” Dash shook his head in response, “Nah, all my stuff is already in Danny's car.” Lancer raised an eyebrow but didn’t comment. “Well, all my stuff is with the other chaperone on the bus so we can leave if you have everything.” Dash nodded and they made their way to student parking to meet up with the others.

When they reached the group, Danny did a quick headcount and noticed a vital mistake. His car only sat five people, there were six of them now since Lancer had to chaperone. The other seemed to notice too, all but Dash and lancer began to rush to claim the only two open seats left. Kwan got the middle seat, and it was a fight between sam and tucker, a fight tucker would never even wish to invoke, so he decided he was content being the one without a real seat, not that he’d let sam get away with it fully. He was going to sit in her lap. It was a brilliant plan Tucker thought. Sam thought otherwise but it was much too late as the car was already in motion by the time she began to protest. Lancer had his headphones in and was tuning out the mess that was the rest back seat completely, while Dash sat in the passenger seat, singing along loudly to an Ariana Grande song. Everything, by Danny’s standards, was going absolutely amazing, though he wasn’t about to jinx that like bad luck Tuck in the back seat. Still, Danny can’t help but worry about the radio silence he’s been receiving from the other ghosts. It was unnerving and definitely becoming a troublesome burden. He’d have to tell Dash about it soon before it got too much stress for him to handle by himself.


	9. Chapter 9

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> two chapters in a row? I know crazy, and its twice the length as normal, I got carried away.  
> I want to hurry and get to the angst because I've cried thinking about what I plan to write, so I have no doubt this should bring me to tears when I get to it. it's amazing to think that this all came from one idea and how far its come. from what was originally going to be a simple one-shot I wrote high on painkillers to a real story with substance. also thanks to all of you who have supported me along this journey, as it's just the beginning. Enjoy. :D

The drive wasn’t too long or insufferable, especially once the arguing between Sam and Tucker winded down since Sam accepted her fate. At some point, they passed the bus with the rest of their schoolmates and Danny threw them a peace sign and Sam flipped them off. Wes took the time to put down his window so he could yell at Danny. Danny simply smiled and waved in response. They made it to the hotel a few minutes before the bus did, so they took that time to take their stuff up to their assigned rooms. To Danny's dismay, Lancer wasn’t the one in charge of the assignments and was paired up with Weston to share a room. Danny chose to claim the bed nearest to the door, not only making sneaking out easier but it just made him feel safer in general. He waited patiently for the hellfire to begin, it was like the calm before the storm. Said storm being Wes “the earth is flat” Weston. Danny flicked through the few television stations they got since they were almost in the middle of nowhere. He settled to turning it off and setting a prank for his new roommate. By the time he was done the room was a mess. It looked like there was a struggle and Danny took the remaining amount of time to do his makeup in the closet, so it looked like he had been stabbed in the gut. He took the liberty of using some green to fuel Weston's asinine theories.

Thank clockwork for super hearing, because he could hear everything Wes was saying loud and clear. “I’m telling you! He did this on purpose he's messing with me! He’s a fucking ghost and since none of you believe me he’s using y’all against me.” Danny stifled a laugh. “Well, how bout you show me this ghost, man. I wanted to ask him how he got permission to drive himself here anyway, and maybe if I could catch a ride home with him since the bus was a hellscape on the way here.” Danny could hear the door mechanism unlocking. He waited as the door swung over, there was a quiet gasp.

This was not in the slightest of what Wes was expecting to see when he opened the door. “Danny?” he called out before taking another step into the chaos. Written in what one might assume was blood was the words ‘stop lying Weston.’ at this point his eyebrows had reached his hairline “Danny this isn’t fucking funny.” he began to search the room, his friend was recording everything. “Man, I don't know why but this feels familiar.” Wes rolled his eyes as he looked under one of the beds. On the provided hotel notepad was written in pen ‘find CW’ “who or what the fuck is CW?” He looked to his friend who simply shrugged.

Finally, Wes had landed in front of the closet. Danny was growing impatient. “Alright Danny, I know you're in there and this isn’t funny.” He opened the door and Danny fell out. He had rolled his eyes back for the extra scare factor, it seemed to work considering Wes screamed like a little girl and toppled backward, landing on his ass while his friend dropped his phone and fucking booked it. Green eyes met glowing ones and Wes felt his body completely still he couldn't move. Danny’s head turned and he spoke in an eerie voice “sstop lying wesssston” his voice reverberated off of nothing and ectoplasm poured from his mouth and began to pool on the tile floor he continued to repeat the phrase, he began to laugh, the reverberation shaking the room, steeling the fear within Wes. He stood, grabbed his friend's phone, which was still recording, and ran the chanting and laughter following him out the door as it slammed shut on its own. He continued to sprint down the hall, colliding with his friend and hiding in his room for the moment.

Danny waited a moment to hear the mechanism fall into place before standing up from his spot on the floor and beginning to clean up the mess before him. It didn’t take him any longer than 5 minutes to finish and return the room to the way it was. Danny shot a group text about what happened and if anyone asked, Danny dropped his stuff off then returned to the others where they were all hanging out in Kwan's room preparing for the party, Danny returned to the room, its door was locked and the room empty. He used duplicates to ensure even if someone looked over the security footage his story would be rock solid. He returned to flipping through television stations once again.

“Dude what the fuuuuuuuck.” Wes’s friend asked. Wes shrugged as they went through the footage. The moment Danny fell out of the closet, it would change to tv static and. It pissed him off. “Should we tell someone? Cause Danny looked pretty fucking dead back there.” Wes nodded. “We should tell Lancer, maybe get him to take a look before we call any cops.” Wes rolled his eyes at the suggestion. “While I agree Lancer fucking hates me. But also, did it remind you of like a more fucked up version of that one prank Jim pulled on Dwight?” His friend nodded. “That's why it felt so familiar to me!” he facepalms. “We should check, but with someone like Lancer or like one of the people who work here.” Wes nods again. “I wholeheartedly agree with you on that part. Let's go.” they end up dragging an irritated Lancer to Wes and Danny’s shared room. You can hear the television from the room playing the opening to 911. Wes unlocks the door.

Danny hears the lock mechanism click.

Inside Danny was sitting on his bed. Not dead. Or covered in blood and dripping ectoplasm from his facial extremities. Wes’s mind stuttered to a stop. The room is clean as if nothing happened. Even the notepad was untouched. “Fuck you.” he flipped Danny off before shooing the others, lancer had left the moment he saw Danny alive and well, and walking into the room and grabbing his stuff and heading over to the open bed. Danny gave him a look, “that was a rude way to say hello.” he scoffed. “Fuck you, man. Making me think you had gotten stabbed is a rude way to say hello!” Wes retorted. Danny's eyebrow raised. “What do you mean you thought I had been stabbed.” Wes rolled his eyes at him. “Don’t play dumb with me! You hid in the closet and when I opened it you fell out, you were bleeding and chanting, man that shit was scary as hell!” Danny shot him another confused look. “Wes, I barely just got here. I dropped my stuff off then went to Kwan's room to help him set up for the party later tonight. I have no idea what you're talking about.” Wes’s face shifted from annoyed to nervous. “You’re kidding, right? There's no way. The room was trashed when I got here and there was blood writing on the bathroom door, and there was writing on the notepad and shit. It looked like someone had fucking murked you and on top of that you-you fell out of the closet with a fucking knife in your back and leaking ectoplasm from your fucking mouth man. What do you mean you weren’t even in the fucking room when this happened?” Danny shrugged. “I don’t know what to say, man, that just sounds like something you’d make up in hopes to convince someone that I was a ghost.” He shrugs and continues to watch the show. “What are you watching?” Wes asks not reading the room. Danny shugs. “It’s called 9-1-1. Tucker begged me to watch it. It’s pretty good so far, you interested?” Wes took a moment to process and nodded. “I’ll give it a watch,” he said and he planted himself on his bed.

Dash was helping Kwan set up his room for the party when he felt a tap on his shoulder. Before he could look he heard a whisper, Danny’s distinct voice got his attention. “Duplicate. Check your phone.” the room warmed up soon after. Dash checked his phone and was greeted by a mirror selfie of Danny, SFX makeup on and a phony knife in his back. Along with it, there was a text relaying what happened and that he had a plan for messing with Wes. Dash snicked and told Kwan who immediately went along with the plan. He shot a message back saying ‘challenge accepted’ and went back to moving furniture to make the most room for partygoers.

“You know there's a party going on later.” He nodded. “It's in room 420, Kwans room.” Wes laughed. “That's… an oddly fitting number for him. Huh.” Wes replied. “It can't oddly fit him if it's an even number dumbass.” Wes rolled his eyes. “You attending then, phantom?” Danny laughed at Wes. “Nah I got better things to do. Though you should cause, I plan on inviting someone over.” Wes raises his eyebrows and Danny shrugs in response. “Ight. I have nothing better to do then.” Danny breathes a ‘cool’ before picking up his phone and messaging someone. Before the next episode could start there's a knock at the door. Danny opens it, Lancer is on the other side. “We need everybody to come down for our group meal. Also, if you see me at the party, you didn’t” Danny gave the English teacher/AP a mock salute and headed downstairs. “You too Weston.” Wes nodded and grabbed the remote to pause the show, but elected to just turn it off. He jogged downstairs, rather than take the elevator, no reason definitely not superstition.

Downstairs everyone is sitting at different booths, typically separated by cliques and such. They ordered their choice of food when they had filled out forms, so Wes wasn’t totally surprised to see Danny’s table not only had pizza but also an array of sushi and barbeque, there was also Sams vegan food but Wes didn’t care too much about that. It had been a while since Wes filled out his form so he wasn’t completely sure what he got. Though he did know the school was paying for all of this so he hoped it was something expensive like a filet mignon. It was not. It was, though, a lot of chick-fil-a chicken nuggets and sauce. Which he wasn’t opposed to because that shit was good. Wes considered sitting near Danny’s table, maybe in hopes to overhear something valuable, but he voted against it and sat with some of his other friends, who were also more than willing to merge their share of food as the others did.

When everyone was finished, the teachers headed to their rooms, several floors above where the party was being held thank goodness, and the students left in waves for Kwan's room. Dash and his boyfriend, on the other hand, stayed behind before making their way back to Danny’s room. Danny had decided not to go to the party because he had enhanced senses and the crowded room noise would have set him off and he’d likely spiral into a panic attack. Definitely no ulterior motive. Things started with Danny filling him in on what's been stressing him out lately. The lack of ghost attacks, the radio silence from clockwork. While it seemed ideal it was the exact opposite for the ghostly hero because, not only did he protect humans, he also found it his job to protect the other ghosts. Dash had decided the best route to fixing the problem would be heading to the ghost zone later and asking, but for now, they should just relax and enjoy themselves. Though with reluctance, Danny accepts and they cuddle while they watch the next episode of 911. If they got a little closer, well, nobody would know. It started with a kiss and seemed to spiral into more, the show becoming nothing more than white noise. They didn’t stop or notice the knock at the door or the lock unlocking, but they surely noticed a mortified Wes Weston standing in the room's doorway. Danny pulled the comforter to cover them both and Wes simply shut the door like he saw nothing. “Oh Clockwork help me.” was the first thing out of Danny’s mouth as he hopped off the bed and began frantically pulling his clothes back on. “Shit, I’ve got to go, like apologize to that bastard. And swear him to silence.” Dash nods as he's pulling on his clothes, Danny rushes out the door.

“Wes!” He could hear Danny calling him and turned to face him. While Danny's not out of breath, he flushed pink. “Thank clockwork I caught you. First off, I am soooo sorry for what you just saw. Also, you literally can't tell anyone about it.” Wes takes a moment. “So have you two been a thing? I honestly thought it was you and that goth chick, what was her name, Sam? But you and Bax-” Danny quickly cuts him off by covering his mouth as some inebriated students pass by. “Look, nobody can know about this. I’m serious Wes. Like it's not just because we think it’s fun to keep it a secret.” Wes thinks again. “Only if you admit to being Phantom.” He says folding his arms. This was not the correct answer for the already stressed halfa. Danny didn’t take it well and slammed him against the wall, his eyes flashing a dangerous green. “Are you fucking kidding me, Weston? You’re so fucking selfish that you can’t keep something like this to yourself huh? It’s not your secret to hand out, so take the fucking hint and shut the fuck up. I don’t care how much you stick your nose into my business, but the moment you put someone endanger like you're threatening to do now I won't fucking stand for it. Do you understand me?” Wes gulps in response and doesn’t answer. “Am I clear!?” Wes grabs Danny's wrist. “Isn't it selfish to say I’m putting you in danger by exposing the truth?” that also wasn’t the right answer. Danny's eyes flare with anger and he hits him across the face. “You think this is about me? Show about how much you really know dumbass. It’s about  _ him. _ If you go screaming to the heavens about us then his dad will find out. If that happens it spells disaster.  _ Do you hear me? _ I don’t give a damn about what you say about me but the minute you said that you made it not only about me but also him and his fucking  _ life, _ his fucking  _ future _ . You know those don't matter to me because I lost both of those a long time ago. But  _ him _ ? He still has a chance. He still has hope and if you dare steal that from him I will not only just kill you but desecrate your grave and rip your corporeal form apart molecule by molecule. Do you fucking hear me, Wes? Now answer me again.  **_Do you understand?_ ** ” His voice echoed slightly on the last part. Wes nods and chokes out a strangled ‘yeah’ Danny lets go of his shirt collar and drops him on the floor. “Go find another room to stay in tonight. You're not welcome anymore.” Danny says, turning his back to Wes and walking back to the hotel room. All Wes can do is sit and stare in fear at him. Maybe Dale would let him stay in his room.

Dash was waiting for Danny in the hotel room. He had a cup of tea in his hands and there was another on the bedside table. “I could hear you fighting, I thought you might appreciate it if I made you some tea to help you wind down.” Dash sats his cup down and hands Danny the one off the nightstand. Danny doesn’t speak, he just nods in gratitude.

**Author's Note:**

> someone politely shoot me.


End file.
